Last Sunday of the Church Year [Matthew 25:1-13] (24-Nov-2013)

This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (9am, lay reading), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon (10am), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yarram (2pm) and St John's Lutheran Church, Sale (4pm).

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Text: (Matthew 25:1-13)

But at midnight there was a cry, “Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.”

 
Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
 
 
In our Gospel reading today, Jesus says: Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
 
There are some people who focus sometimes so much on the second coming of Jesus, that they forget to teach people how they should prepare for their death. The way we prepare for the end of the world is the same as preparing for death—Jesus teaches us both how to prepare for his return and how to prepare for our death at the same time. So he says: Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
 
Jesus is talking here about a Jewish wedding custom where virgins, like bridesmaids, would wait for the groom and all his friends to arrive at the bride’s house for a wedding.
 
It’s no accident that Jesus mentions two things that are not highly valued in our overly-sexualised culture today: virginity and marriage. Jesus describes entering the whole kingdom of heaven like a joyful wedding ceremony.
 
There is an order and a purity and a glory to this parable which is found almost in no other parable. Why does Jesus compare the whole church to 10 virgins? Why 10 of them? Why virgins?
 
First of all, there have been some Christians throughout history—and some Christians even today—who have sometimes considered celibacy as some kind of higher spiritual life. This is not entirely true. At the same time, Jesus does not teach promiscuity and sexual relations outside of marriage.
 
If there is one thing that offends outsiders about Christianity it is things to do with sex and marriage. This is not a problem with the church, but shows the great problems that are constantly faced by people outside the church when it comes to these things. There can be a real temptation for us as Christians to “lighten up” on these things, because we want to be friendly and nice to people. But even the world knows that you can’t “lighten up” about what are often the darkest secrets of a person’s heart.

 

So many people have made mistakes in the past or have been hurt deeply, whether it has to do with sex or other matters. All these things effect the way in which we enter into the holy presence of the living and almighty God. Many young people stop coming to church almost immediately as soon as they have lost their virginity, not because anybody in the church judged them—nobody in the church would even know—but because they recognise within themselves something that prevents them from entering into God’s presence. And this is not even to mention the vicious assaults on the innocence of young people (and not just young people) through the media and internet pornography.
 
But how can people go back to the past and fix what has happened? How can they go and fix their stupid mistakes? What’s done is done! How can they find their innocence again? How can they enter the kingdom of heaven like a little child again, without all the world’s filth?
 
This is precisely why Jesus came to die for the sins of the world. St Paul says: You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. We also read: If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. St Peter says: He himself bore our sins on his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. St John says: the blood of Jesus [God’s] son cleanses us from all sin. In the book of Revelation we read that Christians have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
 
The devil wants to defile you, and particularly he wants to defile your conscience, and make you despair as if nothing can be done. But something has been done: Jesus shed his blood for you, died for you and has risen from the dead for you and now enters into God’s presence with you. Jesus makes people who are defiled by Satan virgins again, by grace, without any of your works, and he is the only person who does this, and he does do it, every time a person is baptised, every time we hear the forgiveness of each and every single one of our sins, and every time we receive the purifying and healing gift of Christ’s holy and undefiled body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. So many people don’t know this, and instead try to pay for their past themselves in all sorts of ways. What they need is the gospel! And the gospel is such wonderful good news for all people in our society today and all people everywhere just like us who so desperately want to be free of the past, are worn out from running from God, from life, from reality, but don’t know where to go. Lord [Jesus], to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
 
So Jesus speaks in our parable about 10 virgins—and in doing this, he is speaking about the whole church who have entered into Holy Baptism, and are therefore washed clean from all sin and defilement. And this purity they receive from Jesus with empty hands, not because of their works, but because of his grace. And we read that each of these virgins took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
 
However, five of them were foolish, and five were wise. What was it particularly that made the foolish virgins foolish, and what was it particularly that made the wise virgins wise? When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.
 
Wisdom is always practical, and always has practical consequences. The wise store up some oil for later, knowing that they need to keep their lamps burning. So what happens?
 
We read: As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, “Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” But the wise answered, saying, “Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.” And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” But he answered, “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.”
 
Our Gospel reading tells us that all the virgins fall asleep. Just like Peter, James and John in the garden with Jesus—they all fall asleep. But the foolish virgins run out of oil and don’t have time to go and fill up. They can’t share with the wise virgins, because otherwise there wouldn’t be enough.
 
The light here is the Gospel—the Gospel is the wonderful good news of the forgiveness of sins. St Paul says: For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness”, has shone into our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. This light of knowledge is not a kind of knowledge as when we know that there just happens to be a rose outside. This knowledge is as when we go and enjoy the rose with our eyes, breathe in the fragrance with all our senses, and almost drink up all its goodness. But does this light depend on us? No – it says: We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. This knowledge, the pure gospel, is a living power of God, and fills our clay jars, our plain dusty oil lamps.
 
The light of the Gospel comes to you from outside. Jesus died for you, he rose for you – all of this happened outside of you. You were baptised—this also happened outside of you. But even though these things come from outside, they must come into you. Say: It is my Jesus, my Lord and my God, who died for me. The Lord is my shepherd.
 

However, this light is not kept burning by us. It is kept burning with the oil of the Holy Spirit. And how does the Holy Spirit work? Through God’s word and through the sacraments. Word, Baptism, Lord’s Supper—these are the gifts of God where he promises to pour out his Holy Spirit continually upon you. The font, the pulpit, the altar—these are the places where Jesus calls to you to come and fill up your lamps constantly with the Holy Spirit to keep your lamps burning.

 
Now, Jesus tells us the purpose of the parable when he says: Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
 
Don’t forget the five foolish virgins. What Jesus tells us in the reading is that there will be a time when it is too late to fill up our lamps. Many Christians don’t come to church, and think that the church will always be there for them. There may come a time when they are about to die and there is simply no pastor, no Christians, who are able to visit them and comfort them. There may come a time when the only Christians around are the sort that don’t visit deathbeds, because they say: “What’s the use of spending time with customers who make no contribution to our business?” Many Christians well advanced in years have never read the bible at home. Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
 
Many Christians, pastors, seminaries, so-called “bible-scholars”, have fallen for the lie that the bible isn’t the word of God, that it’s just like reading any old magazine, and treat words, whole sentences, whole pages, whole books as useless and insignificant. Whenever the bible accuses them, they say: “…of course, we have to understand the historical context!” They think: “The bible only makes the point I want it to make, it only teaches me a little lesson that I could otherwise find out for myself somewhere else”. They say: “The people who wrote the bible didn’t know what they were talking about, but we know so much better.” They think that there’s no difference between the Holy Spirit and their own minds. And so it’s no wonder that everything these people say, speak, and write sounds like an autopsy report, because they think the bible is a dead word.
 
You can’t begin to imagine how this attitude towards the bible has infested the church today, our society, our young people, like a plague of termites, which corrodes and corrupts every last drop of faith, and eats away like a cancer. Termites won’t keep your lamp alight, only oil will. Every time you hear the words of the bible, remind yourself that this is the living voice of the Holy Spirit, and pray for the Holy Spirit.
 
Hear the word of God now, while you can. Read the bible now, while you still have eye-sight. Psalm 95 says: Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Today is the day of salvation. Now is the time for you to be saved. Jesus says: Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. What Jesus says is true! Jesus will never let you down! Isaiah says: Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near. Devote yourself to learning to every aspect of the Christian faith, devote yourself to God’s word and Sacraments. Don’t leave it until later, when you might not have the opportunity.
 
Don’t leave it to your deathbed. I have read many stories about people’s deathbed conversions, and most of these stories are before we had morphine. You don’t know when your time will come, you don’t know when your sight, your mind, your senses, your abilities may be taken away from you at a moment’s notice. And then you will not be able to ask your friends and family to read you the bible or call for a pastor. Psalm 90 says: Teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom.
 
Jesus comes as our loving bridegroom to meet his church all the time. We are gathered here in this church today as Christ’s bride to meet our loving bridegroom. And what a pleasure it is for him to gaze upon his bride and say, just like King Solomon to his bride: You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace. And what a wonderful joy it is for us, Christ’s church, to say to him, as the bride said to King Solomon: Your love is better than wine, your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out; therefore virgins love you. Draw me after you; let us run.
 
Martin Luther once said: “When you go to the Lord’s Supper, go to it like you are preparing for your death, so that when you die it will be just like going to the Lord’s Supper”. This is why we sing those wonderful words each week: Now, Lord, let your servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation. I came with anxiety and longing, and I leave in peace. I came with sins, and I leave with forgiveness. I came into the presence of Christ with an empty lamp, with a faintly burning wick, and I leave church today with Christ’s blessing, with a cup overflowing, a lamp and flask full of oil.
 
“Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.”
 
Amen.
 
Lord Jesus Christ, fill our lamps with your Holy Spirit and fill our hearts with the living light of your Gospel. Send us your Holy Spirit that we may hear your word with attentiveness and follow after you, that where you are we may be also. Amen.